Multi cups with secured engagement

ABSTRACT

Combined cups of 1) a straight shape lower cup and bowl shape upper cup, 2) a straight shape cup and an inserts, and 3) a straight shape lower cup and a straight shape upper cup are provided for carrying soft drinks and snacks with one hand securely. Four kinds of lower cups, five kinds of shallow bowl shape cups, and two kinds of inserts are provided.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Most of combined cups for carrying drinks and snacks with one hand havebulky upper cup for snacks and long and narrow lower cup for drinks. Amajor drawback of the previous combined cup is that the bulky upper cupbody is easily separated from the lower cup body and spills thecontents.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to combined cups for carrying soft drinksand snacks with one hand. Various kinds of grooves are designed forengaging the upper and lower cup body securely.

2. Description of the Prior Art

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2001/0032791 to Hudson, U.S. Pat. No.6,425,480 to Krueger et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,417 to Ferraro, U.S.Pat. No. 5,984,131 to Krueger et al., U.S. Design Patent Des. 397,911 toWaidmann, U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,131 to Berjis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,700 toDumke, U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,079 to Jeng, U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,283 toPatterson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,373 to McKee, and U.S. Pat. No.3,288,344 to Woollen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,740,575 to Fontaine, U.S.Pat. No. 2,503,045 to Hamilton, U.S. Pat. No. 2,287,610 to Guidry, U.S.Pat. No. 2,275,293 to Foley, U.S. Pat. No. 1,665,289 to Weaver and U.S.Pat. No. 1,213,961 to Shepard illustrate various kind of cup on/in cupcombinations.

Before the Pat. No. '3,288,344 of 1965 most combined cup is cup in cuptype. They were not so popular because the volume of lower cup isdecreased when the upper cup is inserted into the lower cup. However,most customers want to put more drinks into one cup.

From Pat. No. '5,176,283 to recent Application 2001/0032791, all theprevious related works have cup on cup structure. All of the upper cupsof the prior arts have larger diameter than the lower cup. Pat. Nos.'4,938,373, '5,249,700, '5,573,131, D 397,911, '5,984,131, '6,338,417,'6,425,480, and '2001/0032791, almost all of them have much largerdiameter. Such structure is very unstable.

Various kinds of grooves are developed to engage the upper cup and lowercup bodies securely.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a combined cupdesigned for storing drinks and snacks. Combinations of 1) a straightshape lower cup and bowl shape cup, 2) a straight shape cup and aninserts, and 3) a straight shape lower cup and a straight shape uppercup are provided for carrying soft drinks and snacks with one handsecurely. Four kinds of lower cups, five kinds of shallow bowl shapecups, and two kinds of inserts are provided. The combined cups of thecurrent invention are securely engaged due to the various grooves.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1-a is an over view of a first embodiment of a shallow bowl shapecup for an upper cup body of one of the combined cup of the currentinvention.

FIG. 1-b is a cross sectional view of a first embodiment of the shallowbowl shape cup for an upper cup body of the combined cup of one of thecurrent invention.

FIG. 1-c is a cross sectional view of large size cup for a lower cupbody of one of the combined cup of the current invention.

FIG. 1-d is a cross sectional view of a first embodiment of a small sizecup for lower cup body of one of the combined cup of the currentinvention.

FIG. 2-a is a cross sectional view of a second embodiment of the shallowbowl shape cup for an upper cup body of one of the combined cup of thecurrent invention.

FIG. 2-b is a bottom view of the first and second embodiment of theshallow bowl shape cup for an upper cup body of one of the combined cupof the current invention.

FIG. 3-a is an over view of a third embodiment of a shallow bowl shapecup for an upper cup body of one of the combined cup of the currentinvention.

FIG. 3-b is a cross sectional view of a third embodiment of the shallowbowl shape cup for an upper cup body of one of the combined cup of thecurrent invention.

FIG. 3-c is a cross sectional view of a variation in bottom groove ofthe third embodiment of the shallow bowl shape cup for an upper cup bodyof one of the combined cup of current invention.

FIG. 4-a is an over view of an insert for dividing the small lower cupinto an upper section and a lower section.

FIG. 4-b is a schematic drawing illustrating how the insert is engagedinto a small lower cup of current invention.

FIG. 4-c is a side view of a variation of the insert in the bottomgroove.

FIG. 5-a is an over view of a first embodiment of a straight cup for anupper cup body of one of the combined cup of the current invention.

FIG. 5-b is a cross sectional view of a first embodiment of a straightcup for an upper cup body of one of the combined cup of the currentinvention.

FIG. 5-c is a cross sectional view of a second embodiment of a small cupfor a lower cup body of one of the combined cup of the currentinvention.

FIG. 6-a is an over view of a second embodiment of a straight cup for anupper cup body of one of the combined cup of the current invention.

FIG. 6-b is a schematic drawing illustrating how the second embodimentof upper straight cup of current invention is engaged into a firstembodiment of a small lower cup of current invention.

FIG. 7-a is an over view of a third embodiment of a small cup for alower cup body of one of the combined cup of the current invention.

FIG. 7-b is a schematic drawing illustrating how the second embodimentof a straight cup of current invention is engaged into a thirdembodiment of a small lower cup of current invention.

FIG. 8-a is a side view of a fourth embodiment of a shallow bowl shapecup for an upper cup body of one of the combined cup of currentinvention.

FIG. 8-b is an over view of the fourth embodiment of a small cup for alower cup body of one the combined cup of the current invention.

FIG. 8-c is a side view of the fourth embodiment of a small cup for alower cup body of one the combined cup of the current invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1-a is an over view of a first embodiment of a shallow bowl shapecup (1) for upper cup body of one the combined cup of the currentinvention. FIG. 1-b is a cross sectional view of a first embodiment ofthe shallow bowl shape cup (1). The bowl shape cup (1) is designed to bemountable on two different sizes under cups, which contain beverages,and hold snacks. FIG. 1-c is a cross sectional view of large size cup(2) for a lower cup body of one of the combined cup of the currentinvention. The upper open part of the bowl shape cup (1) has a circularbrim (3), which has a groove structure (3-1) to receive rolled up brim(4) of the mouth of a large under cup (2). FIG. 1-d is a cross sectionalview of a first embodiment of a small size cup (5) for lower cup body ofone of the combined cup of the current invention. Another groove (6) forreceiving the rolled up brim (7) of the first embodiment of lower cupbody for one of the combined cup has structure of (6-1) and developed onthe bottom of the bowl shape cup (1). A hole (8) for a straw is alsodeveloped at the bottom of the bowl shape cup (1).

FIG. 2-a is a cross sectional view of a second embodiment of the shallowbowl shape cup (9) for an upper cup body of one of the combined cup ofthe current invention. The circular brim (3-1) has the same structure asin FIG. 1-b. Another groove (10) developed at the bottom of the bowlshape cup (1) has more angular structure (10-1) than the previous groove(6-1) for more secure engagement of rolled up brim (7) of the lower cupbody of (5).

FIG. 2-b is a bottom view of the first and second embodiment of theshallow bowl shape cups of (1) and (9). Pluralities of wrinkles (11) aredeveloped along the outer sides of grooves, (6) and (10), at the bottomof the bowl shape cups of (1) and (9). The wrinkles (11) formthree-dimensional structure to reinforce the strength of the grooves of(6) and (10) developed at the bottom of the bowl shape cups of (1) and(9).

FIG. 3-a is an over view of a third embodiment of a shallow bowl shapecup (12) for an upper cup body of one of the combined cup of currentinvention. And FIG. 3-b is a cross sectional view of a third embodimentof the shallow bowl shape cup (12). The cup (12) has a partiallyextended bottom (13). The circular brim (14) at the upper open part ofthe bowl shape cup (12) has the same shape structure of the previouscircular brim (3-1). Since the bottom of the cup (12) is partiallyextended, two new bottom grooves (15-1) and (15-2) are provided. Theupper groove (15-1) is for receiving the rolled up brim (7) of the firstembodiment of small cup (5) and the lower groove (15-2) is for receivinga groove (7-1), which is developed at the side of the first embodimentof a small cup (5). Due to the two grooves of (15-1) and (15-2), thethird embodiment of bowl shape cup (12) and the first embodiment ofsmall cup (5) are engaged more tightly than ever. FIG. 3-c is a crosssectional view of a variation of the third embodiment of the shallowbowl shape cup (12) for an upper cup body of one of the combined cup ofthe current invention. The only variation of the third cup (12) is thelower groove (15-3). The groove (15-3) is projected outwardly while theprevious groove (15-2) is projected inwardly. The third cup (12) withthe groove of (15-3) is engaged to a second embodiment of the smalllower cup (23) in FIG. 5-c, which has two horizontal grooves developedoutwardly.

FIG. 4-a is an over view of an insert (16) for dividing the firstembodiment of the small lower cup body (5) into an upper section and alower section. The insert has a hole (17) for a straw at the innercircular part and a hemi circular, vertically straight, groove (18) foranother straw at the outer perimeter of the insert (16). FIG. 4-bschematically illustrates how the insert (16) is engaged into the firstembodiment of a small lower cup body (5) of current invention. When auser pushes down the insert (16) into the lower small cup body (5), thegroove (16-1), developed at the lower part of the insert (16), isengaged to another groove (7-2) developed on the wall of the small lowercup body (5). A user can put beverage and snack in one cup utilizingthis insert (16) and the small lower cup body (5). FIG. 4-c is avariation of the insert (16) in the groove (16-2). This groove (16-2) isdeveloped outwardly to engage the insert (16) to the second embodimentof the small lower cup (23) in FIG. 5-c, which has two horizontalgrooves developed outwardly.

FIG. 5-a is an over view of the first embodiment of a straight shapeupper cup body (19) of the current invention. The upper cup body (19)has a hole (20) for a straw at the inner circular part and a hemicircular, vertically straight, groove (21) for another straw at theouter rim of the upper cup body (19). FIG. 5-b is a cross sectional viewof the first embodiment of an upper cup body (19) of current invention.A groove (22), projected outwardly, is developed horizontally along theperimeter of the upper cup (19). FIG. 5-c is a cross sectional view ofsecond embodiment of a small lower cup body (23) of the currentinvention. Two, outwardly projected, grooves (24) and (25) are developedhorizontally along the perimeter. The groove (22) of the upper cup body(19) may be engaged to one of the grooves (24) and (25) depends on therelative size of the upper cup body (19) and the lower cup body (23).

FIG. 6-a is an over view of a second embodiment of a straight shapeupper cup body (24) of the current invention. A hole (25) for a straw isdeveloped at the bottom. FIG. 6-b is a side view of the secondembodiment of the upper cup body (24). A groove (26) for another strawis developed inwardly and vertically on the perimeter of the cup upperbody (24) and another groove (27) is developed horizontally and inwardlyalong the perimeter of the upper cup body (24). FIG. 6-c is a schematicdrawing illustrating how the second embodiment of the upper cup body(24) of current invention is engaged into a first embodiment of a smalllower cup body (5) of current invention. When a user pushes down theupper cup body (24) into the small lower cup body (5), the horizontalgroove (27) is engaged to one of the grooves of (7-1) and (7-2) dependson the relative sizes of the two cup bodies of (24) and (5).

FIG. 7-a is an over view of a third embodiment of a small lower cup body(28) of the current invention. Four small vertical projections (29) arehorizontally developed inwardly along the inside perimeter of the lowercup of (28). FIG. 7-b is a schematic drawing illustrating how a thirdembodiment of an upper cup (30) of current invention is engaged into thethird embodiment of a small lower cup (28) of the current invention. Thethird upper cup (30) is very similar to the second cup (24). The onlydifference is the shape of horizontal groove. The groove (27) of thesecond cup (24) is inwardly rounded. The groove (31) of the third uppercup (30) is inwardly triangular. A sharp slope (32) is developed betweenthe upper section and lower section of the lower cup (28). When a userpushes the upper cup (30) into the lower cup (32), the four smallvertical projections (29) on the lower cup (28) are engaged to thetriangular groove (31) of the upper cup (30).

FIG. 8-a is a side view of a fourth embodiment of a shallow bowl shapelid (33) for upper cup body of the combined cup of current invention.FIG. 8-b is an over view of the fourth embodiment of a small lower cup(34) of the current invention. FIG. 8-c is a side view of the fourthembodiment of a small lower cup (34) of the current invention. Thefourth lower cup (34) has four wings (35) developed along the perimeterof the open mouth portion of the cup (34). Four grooves (36) match tothe four wings (35) are developed at the bottom of the fourth bowl shapelid (33). A user can engage the fourth lid (33) to the fourth lower cup(34) by align the wings (35) and grooves (36) and twist. It providesanother securely engaged multi-cup.

1. A combined cup which is comprised of; 1) an upper cup body of a bowlshape having a circular brim of a groove structure at the upper openpart thereof, a hole for a straw developed at the bottom thereof, andanother groove developed on the bottom thereof; and 2) a bottom cup withstraight side wall.
 2. A combined cup of claim 1, wherein a bottom cuphas two grooves inwardly developed along sidewall.
 3. A combined cup ofclaim 1, wherein an upper cup body of a bowl shape having a circularbrim of a groove structure at the upper open part thereof, a hole for astraw developed at the bottom thereof, and another groove of angularinner structure developed at the bottom thereof.
 4. A combined cup ofclaim 1, wherein pluralities of wrinkles are developed at the bottom ofthe bowl shape upper cup body along the outer sides of grooves.
 5. Acombined cup which is comprised of; 1) an upper cup body of a bowl withextended bottom shape having a circular brim of a groove structure atthe upper open part thereof, a hole for a straw developed at the bottomthereof, another groove developed between the first bottom and thesecond bottom thereof, and a third groove developed inwardly along theperimeter of the extended bottom wall and 2) a bottom cup with straightside wall.
 6. A combined cup of claim 5, wherein a bottom cup has twogrooves inwardly developed along sidewall.
 7. A combined cup of claim 5,wherein 1) an upper cup body of a bowl with extended bottom shape havinga circular brim of a groove structure at the upper open part thereof, ahole for a straw developed at the bottom thereof, another groovedeveloped between the first bottom and the second bottom thereof, and athird groove developed outwardly along the perimeter of the extendedbottom wall and 2) a bottom cup has two grooves outwardly developedalong side wall.
 8. A combined cup which is comprised of; 1) a cuphaving two grooves developed inwardly along the perimeter of side walland 2) an insert having a hole for a straw at the inner circular partand a hemi circular, vertically straight, groove for another straw atthe outer perimeter of the insert.
 9. A combined cup which is comprisedof; 1) a straight shape upper cup body having a hole for a straw at theinner circular part and a hemi circular, vertically straight, groove foranother straw at the outer rim of the upper cup body and a groove,developed horizontally and projected outwardly along the perimeter and2) a lower cup body having two outwardly projected grooves developedhorizontally along the perimeter.
 10. A combined cup of claim 9,wherein 1) a straight shape upper cup body having a hole for a straw atthe inner circular part and a hemi circular, vertically straight, groovefor another straw at the outer rim of the upper cup body and a groove,developed horizontally and projected inwardly along the perimeter and 2)a lower cup body having two inwardly projected grooves developedhorizontally along the perimeter.
 11. A combined cup which is comprisedof; 1) a lower cup body having four small vertical projections developedhorizontally inwardly along the inside perimeter and 2) an upper cuphaving a sharp slope developed between the upper section and lowersection of the lower cup and a horizontal groove developed horizontallyinwardly in triangular shape.
 12. A combined cup which is comprisedof; 1) an upper cup body of a bowl shape having a circular brim of agroove structure at the upper open part thereof and four sloped groovesdeveloped on the bottom thereof; and 2) a bottom cup having four slopedwings developed along the perimeter of the open mouth portion.